WALLINGFORD, CONN. (March 6, 2016)—The Sacred Heart bowling team went 7-3 at the final Northeast Conference meet of the regular season this weekend at Wallingford Bowl in Connecticut.
After going into the meet at the top of the standings, the Pioneers finished the regular season tied with Saint Francis U at 14-6, but the Red Flash owned the tiebreaker to clinch the Regular Season Title, and go into the NEC Tournament at the end of the month as the No. 1 seed. While the teams were 2-2 against each other this season, the tiebreaker fell to total pinfall in their four matches. That's where SFU got the better of Sacred Heart, having knocked over less than 50 pins more than SHU.
The Pioneers will begin the hunt for their third NEC Championship as the No. 2 seed in the tournament, which takes place March 25-26.
Sacred Heart held onto the top spot through five team games on Saturday, leading the league by one game at 10-5 having picked up wins over St. Francis Brooklyn, SFU and Caldwell.
SHU overpowered all conference foes on Sunday, except for the Red Flash. After downing LIU Brooklyn 973-927 and the Terriers 987-892 to start the day, Sacred Heart tripped up against the Red Flash falling by just nine points 898-889. The Pioneers found their footing again in the next match, downing rival Fairleigh Dickinson 964-868 before closing the tournament with a 985-870 win over Caldwell.
Saturday – Team Games:
Saturday saw all-around team effort as a different Pioneer shot the team's high-game in each of the day's five matches
SHU 909 – St. Francis Brooklyn 873
SHU 924 – Saint Francis U 885
Fairleigh Dickinson 986 – SHU 898
- In one of the team's lowest totals of the day, Maher led the squad with a 190
LIU Brooklyn 929 – SHU 919
- Senior Jayna Tartaglia (Rye Brook, N.Y.) came off the bench in the fourth match to bowl the Pioneers' first 200 game of the day, leading SHU in the loss shooting 203
SHU 892 – Caldwell 778
- After coming in off the bench in the previous match to see her first conference action, Dominique Newton (Farmington, N.Y.) led Sacred Heart in its win over the Cougars
- Casey Smith (Chittenango, N.Y.) came in for the first time Saturday in the day's final match to finish just five points behind her classmate with a 195 game
Sunday – Baker Matches:
The Pioneers' only stumble on Sunday was a big one. Despite the difference being just nine points, SHU's only baker loss was to the Red Flash allowing the teams' season series to even at two for the year and Saint Francis U to take the eventual tiebreaker
SHU 973 – LIU Brooklyn 927
- Starting lineup: Newton, Sarah Rhodes (Sparta, N.J.), Morris, Tartaglia, Hoffman
- Rhodes and Hoffman filled all 10 frames to lead the team to the huge win over the Blackbirds, both averaging 21 per frame
- Kristin Zimmerman (Plantation, Fla.) came off the bench to add three of five strikes to help increase the lead
SHU 987 – St. Francis Brooklyn 892
- Starting lineup: Newton, Zimmerman, Rhodes, Morris, Hoffman
- Rhodes tossed six out of 10 strikes to lead the team with 24.4 frame average
- Zimmerman filled nine of 10 frames for a 21.0 frame average
Saint Francis U 898 – SHU 889
- Starting lineup: Tyrrell, Zimmerman, Rhodes, Morris, Hoffman
- Overall, scores went down in this match, but the Pioneers fought back from a 13-pin deficit after Game 1 to a 25-pin lead after Game 4
- Zimmerman, Rhodes and Hoffman all averaged at least 19 pins per frame, but poor shot making in the last five frames led to the loss
SHU 964 – Fairleigh Dickinson 868
- Starting lineup: Smith, Zimmerman, Courtney McGinn (Islip Terrace, N.Y.), Rhodes, Hoffman
- In another low-scoring match, Hoffman led the way averaging 20.3
SHU 985 – Caldwell 870
- Starting lineup: Newton, Zimmerman, Smith, Rhodes, Hoffman
- Newton came in to be the team's high scorer with a 20.3 frame average and 10 filled frames
- Rhodes took over the anchor spot at the end of the match helping SHU to the big win
